Corn Products

Corn is one of a few rare crops on which agriculture has been done for thousands of years. The materials that were discovered with all the archaeological excavations show that corn dates back a period between 8.000 and 10.000 years ago. Corn is imported from North Africa at the first time. In our country, among cereals, it takes the third place after wheat and barley. Even though it is suitable to be cultivated in almost every region of our country, corn is mostly produced in Black Sea Region and it became an important raw material in Black Sea Cuisine Culture. Covering a wide area to shape cuisine culture of the region, corn is called “laz herb”. Being an inevitable ingredient in meals made in this region, corn also left some folkloric effects. When it is examined within the frame of gastronomy and culture, corn is cultivated through several phases such as harvesting of corn, grinding of it, and producing food out of it. For the people of Black Sea, it has a great importance in terms of both production and consumption. Within the scope of this article, the main aim is to determine how often Black Sea people, living outside of the area corn was born, consume regional foods made out of corn and corn products. Besides, this work’s another purpose is to determine what exactly corn means according to Black Sea people living outside of Black Sea Region. In accordance with these purposes, a lot of face-to-face interviews were made with participants by using semi-structured interview form, in order to determine the attitudes of corn consumption by the people living in Istanbul. There are voice and video records taken, those records were assessed with a detailed analysis.